The mission of Will Run For Ice Cream is to encourage a healthy lifestyle for myself and for my readers by sharing a variety of my personal experiences, real-life stories, workout ideas, along with occasional recipes and relevant product reviews. I am committed to being totally transparent with myself and my readers. #WillRun4IceCream

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Injured Again - Tarsal Tunnel Syndrome

So.... over.... this..... No, really, I'm over being injured. I looked back and from my very first Half marathon in 2011 (where I wound up with 3 stress fractures in one foot from that race and didn't know it) I have been injured every year in the fall/winter since then.

I am serious. Tendonitis one year, a calf tear another year, a hamstring injury, and now this... Tarsal Tunnel Syndrome, Tendonitis with a touch of Plantar Fasciitis for a little more fun. My right foot is a mess.

Thankfully (at the moment) the pain is bearable. But when the urgent care diagnosed mewith plantar fasciitis and wouldn't address the swelling that I was having under my ankle, I felt that something else was also wrong.

I saw another Dr that I had more confidence in (since I couldn't get an appointment with my podiatrist for a couple more weeks) and he felt that the swelling was just soft tissue from the inflammation. He told me to take a week off from running, and then do a test run.

When I went out for my test run, I wasn't experiencing any pain. I did have some swelling, but not pain. About .6 of a mile into my run, a sharp pain stopped me in my tracks. It was the kind of pain that gets your attention fast.

I readjusted my shoe thinking that maybe it was rubbing me the wrong way. Long story short, I abandoned the run, ran/walked my way back to the car and was in pain for the rest of the day and the following days.

After what seemed like a very long week, I was finally able to see my podiatrist. He also agreed that I have PF, but within minutes of hearing my full symptoms, he also diagnosed me with Tarsal Tunnel Syndrome.

I was given a prescription for Voltaren Gel, and told to take 800mg of Advil twice a day.

The swelling might be a little better, but the reality is that it's not well. My stomach wasn't happy with the Advil, so I've had to drop that. I'm trying to rest it as much as possible, but I was told that I could bike or swim, just not run or use the elliptical for at least another week.

But I went back to my running log and started investigating my injuries... and I've come to the conclusion that I am no longer doing distance running... or at least not for quite some time. I think I need to take at least a year off.

I have some races on my schedule that I have already registered for. One of those is Rothrock an 18 mile trail run in June. I really hope to do that challenge. But I don't plan to add any other distance runs to my calendar. I don't plan to run any half marathons, marathons, ultras or any type of 'distance' this year.

I also don't plan to do any type of exercise back to back. I don't plan to run 2 days in a row, or bike 2 days in a row, or swim 2 days in a row. My body needs more time to recover!

This year is my year of exercise diversity - I plan to cross train, cross train, cross train. Hello spin class, hello elliptical, hello rowing machine, hello lateral trainer, hello arc trainer, hello strength training, hello pool running and limited swimming (since I'm not a swimmer) and hello yoga. But I plan to mix it up, and give my body time to recover from each workout. I also plan to keep my running to 3 days a week (maybe 4 if my workouts have been easy).From now on, when my body says no, I plan to listen.

This Momma is tired of being injured! I knew the last few weeks that I was pushing myself probably a little more than I should have been. My body was saying no, but I wanted to run with other runners.

Hi! I found your post through Twitter. I'm a fairly new runner and I'm interested in running long distance. I'm still learning and reading your post made me question running every day. If you could start all over again knowing what you know now, pre any injuries, would you still take breaks in between runs or are you taking breaks now BECAUSE of the injuries? I do hope you feel better and you recover quickly.

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